LONDON, Nov 19 European regulators adopted a new
guideline on so-called biosimilar antibody drugs on Friday,
paving the way for cheaper copies of multi-billion-dollar
medicines for cancer and other serious diseases.

As expected, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) did not
publish the full document after it was endorsed by its committee
of experts, but said it would be released on its website
"shortly".

A spokeswoman told Reuters earlier this week that
publication could take a couple of weeks.

The new rules are keenly awaited by drug companies and
investors, who want to know how difficult -- and hence expensive
-- it will be to win approval in Europe for copies of complex
antibody-based drugs.

The EMA gave nothing away on Friday, saying merely: "This
guideline lays down the non-clinical and clinical requirements
for monoclonal antibody-containing medicines claiming to be
similar to another one already marketed."

Many industry experts expect a cautious approach, requiring
separate clinical trials for different diseases addressed by the
same antibody. That would be good news for original producers of
monoclonal antibodies, like Roche ROG.VX and Amgen (AMGN.O).

For makers of generic drugs, it would push up costs and may
limit the field to a few sophisticated and well-funded companies
like Teva TEVA.O, which is working on biosimilars with Lonza
LONN.VX; Novartis NOVN.VX unit Sandoz; and Hospira HSP.N.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by Kate Kelland)

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